Eldritch Horror Theatre

Could this be the legendary betrayal of an acquaintance?

As a bystander who preferred to hide achievements and fame, Fu Qian naturally saw it clearly: this vicious strike came from Crystal, the very person Holler had called in.

The spear manifested in her hands without a shred of hesitation. It was as if she had rehearsed this with Akasha, all for the sake of cutting the Ash Emissary down.

Even after the weapon pierced his body, a surging chill continued to pour from it, covering Holler entirely in frost.

"Why?"

But as noted earlier, the victim's vitality was fiercely tenacious.

Even after suffering such a heavy blow, he didn't fall. Once he steadied his stance, he still had the strength to turn and demand an answer, his voice thick with the grief and indignation of betrayal.

"That thing didn't just injure you. You'll be like me soon," Crystal replied coldly, her eyes devoid of guilt.

Like her?

"Ugh—"

Before he could speak, he let out another groan of pain as Crystal violently yanked the spear out.

Bizarrely colored blood coated the weapon, along with several strange, round objects.

"She seems able to infect you through those threads. Try to clear the other spots yourself."

The spear disintegrated, and the objects clinging to it rapidly lost their vitality. Crystal explained her actions and offered a warning.

She had clearly tried to minimize her movements, yet inevitable cuts still appeared on her hands.

...

So she was actually saving him? She simply hadn't wanted another victim following in her footsteps.

Concise and to the point. Seeing what had been pulled out on the spear, Holler realized his misunderstanding; his acquaintance had acted out of good intentions.

He said nothing to her warning. He glanced down at himself, and in the next moment, sharp teeth and horns actually began to drill out from every wound, tearing his injuries into even more gruesome shapes.

Accompanying this shocking sight, insect eggs identical to those on the spear were crushed and expelled from his body.

Crystal's words were proven true again. Meanwhile, Akasha, who had dealt the vicious blow, didn't interfere at all. She allowed her Offspring to be purged.

"This is why I hate dealing with your kind. You always act so self-righteously brainless."

But the queen hadn't exactly done nothing. As she slowly floated down from midair, her verbal insults remained razor-sharp.

"Didn't you say you had no time to fool around here?"

The verbal attack was potent. The Ash Emissary was left almost speechless, so Crystal stepped up beside him.

"I don't. I mainly came because His Excellency Andiel was interested."

Akasha didn't hesitate for a second. She shoved the blame onto Fu Qian, claiming she had merely been brought here to hit the bar.

"Yes, I prefer the atmosphere here."

Facing the gazes that immediately shifted toward him, Fu Qian nodded candidly.

He had to admit that Her Excellency Akasha's magnanimity had grown. A tense conflict had vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.

Even this tactic of diverting trouble onto others aligned perfectly with his earlier guess.

That is, tailing him wasn't just for surveillance. The team behind her intended to use his constitution as an outsider to trigger specific reactions in Unseen Hill, helping them execute their eternal night plan.

The simplest way to do that was to have him fight someone and engage in strenuous activity.

His previous evasive maneuvers had simply prevented that from happening.

Of course, it merely looked like a tendency. If he was truly that crucial to their plan, why wait until now?

Akasha could have attacked the moment she appeared.

Not to mention he had already fought more than one person earlier, and nothing special had happened—oh?

Amid the somewhat deadlocked atmosphere, Fu Qian suddenly turned his head toward a corner.

He saw a customer, whose soul had just been yelled out of him, making strange movements.

The customer went from wooden to limp, then collapsed entirely onto the table as if asleep.

Crucially, along with this collapse, the man's body rapidly shifted into a black-and-white movie style, a palette that continued spreading outward.

Thud!

Soon, a second person's head hit the table. The black, white, and gray colors expanded over an even wider area.

"What's going on?"

Even the most oblivious person could tell something was wrong.

Noticing this change, the slightly recovered Holler couldn't help but ask.

"It looks like they were infected by you."

Fu Qian didn't even turn his head, casually offering a damning theory.

...

Holler had to admit it was hard to refute.

The blood that had flowed from him after he was poisoned had indeed turned slightly gray. Not to mention he had been sitting here with this crowd for a while; he couldn't easily wash away the suspicion of airborne transmission.

The consequences looked severe. In the blink of an eye, aside from the three in the Demigod Realm, every remaining customer in the bar had succumbed and fallen asleep.

The black, white, and gray spreading from their bodies completely merged into a single expanse, surrounding—and even submerging—the three people in the center.

As if they had entered a legendary place of eternal rest, the world abruptly fell silent.

The feeling was astonishingly similar to the sight inside the cauldron behind the door.

In that moment, Fu Qian couldn't help but marvel.

Indeed, this scene easily brought his previous experiences to mind.

The people in the Lake-Bottom Cauldron had also slumbered like this, equally devoid of life.

The eternal night seemed to truly be falling.

"Hehe... Looks like I really should get going."

Akasha's reaction confirmed this.

She was somewhat surprised at first, but after a brief silence, the outlaw let out an unceremonious string of laughter.

"His Excellency Andiel is truly extraordinary!"

Even as Fu Qian looked over, she didn't forget to wink and offer a compliment.

Did this mean it didn't matter what he did?

Fu Qian naturally understood her meaning; her recent critique still echoed in his ears.

Now, the term open scheme seemed incredibly fitting.

Even though he had been as slippery as an eel the entire time, cleverly evading conflict, certain changes had still occurred right near him.

Indeed, rather than the guests being infected by Holler, Fu Qian was more inclined to believe he himself was the cause.

Despite keeping such a low profile, he seemingly couldn't avoid becoming a source of disaster, triggering some special reaction within Unseen Hill.

As for why he judged it this way... Ash Descent?

Yes. Aside from giving him a sense of deja vu regarding the Lake-Bottom Cauldron, the scene before him actually resembled something else far more—the Ji Clan's inherited ultimate technique, Ash Descent, which he had witnessed in both the Wasteland and Silver Mist Manor.

And those people were even suspected to be the Offspring of Unseen Hill's master.

Even right in front of him, the Ash Descent summoned by a group of people had actually merged together before.

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